Good morning.
Thursday will be sunny and cold, with a high of six degrees. Sunrise today is 6:34 AM and sunset 5:42 PM. The moon is a waning crescent with just four percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Tech Park Board meets at 8 AM, and the Fire & Rescue Task Force at 6 PM.
It’s John Steinbeck‘s 112th birthday, and Google has an interactive doodle in commemoration.
On this day in 1904, Wisconsin sees the loss of her capitol building to fire:
1904 – Second State Capitol Burns
On this date fire destroyed the second State Capitol building in Madison. On the evening of the 26th, the generator was turned off for the night. The only lights visible were two gas jets serving the night watchman. At approximately 2 a.m., night watchman Nat Crampton smelled smoke and followed the odor to a recently varnished ceiling, already in flames. A second watchman arrived to assist, but there was no water pressure with which to operate a hose. The fire department encountered a similar situation upon arrival. Governor Robert M. La Follette telegraphed fire departments in Janesville and Milwaukee for assistance. La Follette was at the capitol, directing efforts to douse the fire and entering the burning building to retrieve valuable papers. The fire was completely extinguished by 10 p.m. the next day. Losses were estimated to be close to $1 million.
Google-a-Day asks about an actress:
Who played, Delores, the girlfriend of the eponymous lead character in the mostly-true Tim Burton film about the legendary director of notoriously bad movies?